Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Malachi put a lot into that hug.
Gracen felt every ounce of it.
How long it lasted.
The way he squeezed her impossibly tight.
After her first call to close the distance between them, not much had changed. She kept busy because of her move and, while he didn’t explicitly say so, Gracen could tell Malachi had things going on in his life, too. Texts here and there and short phone calls were all the two could manage until this weekend.
“You weren’t supposed to get here until tomorrow,” she mumbled against his neck.
His chuckles rocked them both, but his arms didn’t loosen for a second. Even when she straightened up in his hold to look down at him. Malachi smiled big.
“I thought ... what’s a day, right?”
She laughed, nodding. “Right.”
Then, she took another glance at the idling truck jacked up on big tires with FORD stamped in the middle of the chrome grill.
He didn’t miss it.
“That’s new,” she noted.
Malachi shrugged as he slowly let Gracen back down to the ground. Neither of the two could keep from touching one another, though. If it wasn’t his hand traveling underneath the back of her hoodie, then hers was playing in the pockets of his leather jacket.
“Not brand new,” he said, “but new to me.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Where’s the bike?”
“Technically, you’re looking at it. I traded the bike for the truck—and added a few thousand on top of it to settle the score.”
Gracen blinked. “Why?”
Laughing, he pulled her in for another quick hug and a kiss he dropped to the top of her head. She closed her eyes with a sigh the longer his lips lingered there. “Why do you sound sad about a bike you wouldn’t even ride?”
“Because you liked it. It was your bike.”
Malachi’s head bobbed with a nod while his gaze turned distant even though it remained on the truck in front of them. Eventually, he said, “Yeah, but I didn’t love the bike.” Before she could consider what that statement might mean, he asked her, “At least, you’ll ride shotgun in this with me, yeah?”
High off the ground in a vehicle that looked like others would move for? Absolutely.
She still had to ask, “You didn’t trade the bike because of me, did you?”
Malachi didn’t miss a beat. “Do you want me to lie?”
Damn this man.
Why did he have to be perfect?
Her heart was already his.
“Come here,” she told him, grabbing the sides of his jacket to pull him into her.
The kiss on her head just wasn’t enough.
Gracen pressed her lips to his, clutching him tight to her while his hands framed her face. The seconds flew by—one after another—but the plushness of his mouth didn’t move against hers. He lingered, and the way his lips curved told her that he reveled in those moments of stillness with her.
But then he pecked her on the mouth, too. Another sweep of his lips urged on her own. She found the taste of mint on his breath when her mouth opened for him. His gaze never left hers while their arms tangled around one another, and they swayed on the spot.
Like the breeze rolling over the hill.
Pulling at the wheat not yet harvested.
He broke the kiss first. Only to hug her hard again.
“I hope you know how much I fucking missed you,” he told her.
She clung back.
For dear life.
“Me, too.”
She felt his head lift over her shoulder.
“This place is beautiful. I’ve driven past here so many times,” Malachi said. “That’s gonna be a hell of a driveway in the winter for your car, though.”
Gracen groaned. “Don’t remind me. I’ve already been warned.”
Keeping her hugged close to his side, Malachi turned back to the truck slightly. “So hey, I’ve got something for you in the truck. I know you didn’t want any—”
“You didn’t bring gifts, right?” Gracen asked.
The way he squinted one eye made Gracen swat him gently on the stomach. “Malachi.”
“I didn’t get you, like ... house stuff,” he muttered. “Better?”
She eyed him through narrowed lids. “Barely.”
He barked out a laugh. “Just get in the truck.”
“What?”
Malachi gestured at the passenger side, and even pushed his hand at the small of her back to start her walk forward. “Go on, open the door.”
Keeping close watch on him over her shoulder, and the way his sly grin continued to grow like he was so pleased with himself, Gracen headed for the side of the F150. She didn’t even think to look through the glass to see what waited inside before she opened the front passenger door.
Her loud gasp made the fluffy kitten sitting in the middle of the passenger seat on a knitted blue blanket lift his head. Snuggled into a tight little ball, the black and white tuxedo kitten had hair that stuck up from one end of his body to the other. She only assumed he was a boy because of the color of the blanket and the matching collar with a dangling bell around his neck.